- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: The Monacelli Press (April 10 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1580931936
- ISBN-13: 978-1580931939
- Product Dimensions: 23.7 x 2.5 x 28.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.5 Kg
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #433,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
This book highlights and showcases many of Adrian great costume and fashion designs from the 1920s through the 1950s. Not only are his timeless glamour gowns, period costumes, and amazing show-girl costumes shown from the movies, but also his impeccable suits and beautiful gowns from his private label. The ten years of Adrian Ltd. are summarized year-by-year, and his life with Janet Gaynor and his taste for decorating and art are described.
About the Author
Christian Esquevin was born in the south of France and raised in Los Angeles. He is a collector and historian of costume design art from the classic films of Hollywood. He is also director of the Coronado Public Library in Southern California.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
glamour de luxe, film style, May 9 2008
By Darryl K. Clark "pywakkit" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label (Hardcover)
adrian, a/k/a gilbert adrian, was one of the few designers for the classic hollywood films that did not blow his own horn during his time in the fashion industry as both costume designer and couturier.in his somewhat short life, he worked hard, played hard and draped some of the film industry's most glamourous bodies in uniquely beautiful designs. his creativity was unstoppable. yet, in a weird twist of fate, he was never to compete for an academy award.
it is a wonderful thing to see another book published about this genius/workhorse! there are some of his gowns that defy description, such as his 'letty lynton' dress with its wildly ruffled sleeves. or, his showgirl get-ups that were featured in 'the great ziegfeld' and re-used time and again for mgm's less lavish musicals. and his period designs for the films of garbo and jeanette macdonald (to name a few), while not painstakingly researched, supply great amounts of aura for these actresses and the films.
it would be nice for the academy to pay tribute to him, travis banton and many others one year. but as it won't get more people to watch, it probably won't happen.
but that's fine. let the books keep coming and let the reinvestigations of the makings of glamour, hollywood style, spark many a scholarly discussion as they should.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Could be better, Jun 14 2008
By Gabrielle Gayheart - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label (Hardcover)
I've got to say that when I saw a book devoted to "Adrian," I got very excited, because I am a great admirer of his work during his years at MGM. However I must admit that I was disappointed with this book for its lack of actual content. If this were a simple photographic display of Adrian's works, I would have enjoyed the book more; it is the content that weakens the presentation.The narrative starts out fine, giving the reader a sense of Adrian's struggles to delve into the fashion business first in Paris, then in America. Wonderful tidbits about the actresses like Crawford and Garbo are scattered throughout the initial 20 pages. But once Adrian's reign at MGM ends, so does the intrigue of the text. The interesting dichotomy of grand art and snappy human interest evolves into a verbose textual rendering of Adrian's creations, spanning about 15 years. Pages upon pages are spent lightly describing gowns from each collection, them not all having photographic companions to help the non-seamstress reader visualize these descriptions. In addition, the layout of the book causes confusion in that gowns described in the text are not necessarily juxtaposed on the same or corresponding page; then, too, some photographs are included that never were referenced in the text, making the reader wonder if they "missed" something.
I feel that this book's content could have been made stronger if more was included about Adrian's personal life, to give the reader insight into the genius behind the design. It is obvious that very little research, outside of photographic, has contributed to the content, which I think reasons its sketchiness. Critique and criticism by reviewing columnists as well as quotes by models or celebrities would surely have been a wonderful addition to the plodding text.
Because of the wonderful photographs, this makes for a great coffee table book. However its lack of content diminishes its viability as a strong read.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gilbert Adrian. Movie glamour., April 4 2009
By Ulita - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label (Hardcover)
I work a lot. My spare time is really limited, so I wanna enjoy it. A couple of years ago, I sort of noticed that while I was watching movies, I hooked up on fashion stuff, like outfits, gowns, etc. The movies that I, as a matter of fact, watch are forgotten films dated 1920's, 1930's. I am keen on silents, actually.So, my shy acquitance with fashion started with the aforementioned silents. For me, silents represent some kind of a wondrous space, which is unique and challenging. Ladies and gents that show up in these movies are the miracles which appeal to your perception of reality. The images of many such an actress and actor are complex and dubious.To grasp this complexity, I surmise, you have to consider the image multi-faceted.
Facets differ, you know. One of them is clothes. At the time, Gilbert Adrian aka Adrian Adolph Greenberg was the biggest polisher of facets. He used to be a Costume Designer for MGM studios in 1920's-1950's. The scope of creative work performed by his genius totals 250 films. These are gowns tailored by him that you find the most tantalizing.
He dressed different ladies of the day and enigmas of the century like Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Janet Gaynor and, among others, his inspiration, Greta Garbo.
You can't help resisting the temptation of figuring out how Adrian managed to work out and create such an avalanche of glamorous wardrobe.
In the book "Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label", you will find a lot of information how Adrian would come up with his ideas and the influences he got to make his ideas work. The book also covers after-movies period in Adrian's life, his trips to Africa and South America.
It is a must read for everybody who feels that fashion is not just a word composed of 7 letters.
Overwhelming reading!
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